Perforating attachment for presses or the like



July 2, 1940. I A. NEUHART 2,206,112

PERFORATING ATTACHMENT FOR PRESSES OR THE LIKE Filed April 7, 1939 2 She ets-Sheet 1 F- m l v y:

INVENTOR ly 2, 1940. A. NEUHART 2,206,112

PERFORATING ATTACHMENT FOR PRESSES OR THE LIKE Filed April 7,1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR And/'en/A/euharf Patented July 2, 1940 I 9 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PERFORATIN G ATTACHMENT FOR. PRESSES OR THE LIKE Cl2tims- (01. 164-100) This invention relates to perforating apparatus and in particular to an attachment for a press or other sheet-handling mechanism, effective to perforate sheets successively as they are 5 fed therethrough.

Various types of perforating mechanisms have been known heretofore .but all the types with which I am familiar have been characterized by a serious objection, their inability to feed sheets along a straight line without deviating therefrom. It is a particular object'of'this invention, therefore, to provide a perforating attachment for presses or the like capable of feeding stock along a straight path, regardless of the imperfections in the stock itself or the elements making up the perforating mechanism.

A preferred embodiment of my invention comprises a perforating blade in the form of a toothed disc journaled in a suitable support. The support is carried on a fixed member but is movable relative thereto. Guide rolls or the like cooperate with the disc to force the stock thereagainst as it is fed between them. Stripper means associated with the disc guide the stock away from the latter after engagement thereby. The invention may be fully comprehended, as well as the various novel features and advantages thereof, by a consideration of the following detailed description referring to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings Fig. l is a view showing diagrammatically the application of the invention to a press of known construction, and is a View partly in section along the longitudinal centerline of the press," for example, with parts shown in elevation;

Fig. 2 is a partial plan view of some of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevation showing the appearance.

of the perforating mechanism from the side on which the stock enters;' and Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along the plane of line IV--IV of Fig. 2.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, for

purposes of illustration, I have shown the ini5 vention as applied to a flat bed and cylinder press, parts of which are illustrated diagrammatically, such as the cylinder II], the feed board II, drop guides I2, stripper feeders I3, and margin wheels I 4. The drop guides I2 are carried on a cross i0 shaft I5 which is journaled in theside framesof the press (not shown) and is oscillated by known means to position the sheets accuratelyonthe feed board and then permit them to be seized by the cylinder grippers. The margin I wheels I4 are carried on arms I6 secured to a cross shaft I! which is also journaled in the side frames. The arms I6 may thus be up-tilted to the dotted line position. The strippers I3 are also secured to a cross shaft I8 supported in the side frames of the press. 5 After sheets have been delivered to the cylinder and printed or otherwise operated upon, they pass over the strippers I3 to a delivery mechanism indicated diagrammatically at. I9 and comprising a plurality of upper and lower tapes 26 10 and 2I traversing guiding and driving shafts 22. The shafts 22 may conveniently be journaled in a tilting conveyor frame as shown in Upham Patent 1,756,405.

The perforating attachment indicated gener- 16 ally at 23 'is disposed between the strippers I3 and the delivery conveyor I 9. It includes a drive shaft 24 journaled in the side frames of the press and driven in any convenient manner from the main press drive. Rolls 25 are secured to the 20 shaft 24 as by headless set screws 26, the rolls being spaced apart along the shaft. Perforator guide wheels 21 journaled on shafts 28 carried in suitable supports 29, cooperate with certain of the rolls 25. Rolls 30 similar totherolls 25, ex- 25 cept that they have a shoulder 3| at each end, are secured on the shaft in abutment with each other for cooperation with the perforator blades shortly to be described. The shoulders at the ends of the rolls 30 provide a circumferential 30 groove 32 therebetween. p

A cross shaft 33 is supported in the frame of the delivery conveyor I9 and has brackets 34 secured thereto by thumb screws 35. The number and location of the brackets 34 depends on '35 the characterof the perforating to be done. It

is a simple matter, however, to attach or remove the brackets 34 andthe rolls 30, or to adjust them along the length of the shafts 33 and 24, respectively. It will be understood, however, that 40 the drive shaft 24 is provided with a pair of rolls 3!] for each perforator-supporting bracket 34 which is in use,

Each bracket 34 is provided with an arm 36 pivoted thereto at 31. relative to the size of the holes in, the. bracket 34 and arm 36 through which it passes, is such as topermit movement of the arm 36 in a horizontal plane as well as in a vertical plane. In

other words, the clearance between the pivot 3'! f and its associated parts (as shown at 31a in Fig. 4)-is greater than is necessary for convenience in assembly, for a purpose which will appear shortly.

The arm 36 is of generally inverted .U-shape.

A stud shaft 38 extends through the spaced sides The size of the pivot 31, 45

of the arm 36. A perforator blade-holder 39 is journaled on the shaft 38, being provided with a bushing 40. The holder has a laterally extending shoulder 39a. A clamping collar 4| on the shaft 38 has a laterally extending shoulder at and cooperates with the holder 39 to support an annular perforator in the form of a toothed disc 42 positioned therebetween. Screws 43 hold the collar 4| firmly against the perforator bladeholder 39.

As best shown in Fig. 3, the blade-holder 39 and clamping collar 4| have fiat annularsurfaces bearing on the rolls 30. This so positions the disc 42 that its edge penetrates a short distance into the circumferential groove 32'between the rolls 3|]. I

An adjusting screw 44 extends upwardly from a projection 45 on the bracket 34, through an opening 46 in the portion of the arm 36 which connects the depending sides thereof. A spring 41 backed up by adjusting thumb nutsv 48; and a bearing washer, engages a similar washer on top of the arm 36. The spring 41 thus continually urges the arm 3% downwardly to the extent permitted by the engagement of the perforator holder 33 and clamping collar M withthe rolls 30. On the entry of stock between the latter, however, the arm 36 is lifted against the pressure of the spring M.

It will be apparent that stock. fed through the perforator 23 between the rolls and the disc 42 will be penetrated by the teeth on the latter and thereby perforated. The perforator 23 also embodies means for stripping the stock from the disc after perforation thereby. The stripper means comprises a pair of fingers 49 having a contour in elevation which is convex downwardly, mounted on the arm 35. The fingers-49 are secured to the arm, with a spacing washer 49a therebetween, by a screw 50 extending through the spaced side portions of the arm, and are suitably recessed as at 5| to clear the annular shoulders 39a and Ma on the blade-holder and clamping. collar. The lower edges of" the fingers 49 are spaced'but slightly from the rolls 30, being substantially tangent to the latter.. The ends of the fingers 49 remote from the screw 59 are connected by a rivet 52 having a central spacing flange 53, and are held in proper position by 1 engagement with the extreme lowermost portion of the bracket 34.

In operation, the parts are normally positioned as illustrated in the drawings. When a sheet has been fed to the cylinder l0 and traveled around with the latter, it is released to the strippers I3:

and the forward edge passes between the. guide wheels 2? and their cooperating rolls 25 and be tween the perforator blade-holderfiii and collar and their cooperating rolls 30. Since the shaft 2 2 is driven as stated, the rolls 25 and 30 feed the sheet forward through the perforator to the delivery conveyor iQ. The sheet is perforated by the disc 42 as it traverses the perforator. The stripper fingers 49 engaging the upper surface of the sheet guide it away from the perforator disc after engagement thereby, thus overcoming any tendency of the sheet to be carried around with the teeth of the perforator disc. The action of the stripper fingers is clearly shown in Fig. 4

by the chain line 54 indicating the sheet.

The supports 29 for the guide'wheels 21 may be similar to the arm 36 and mounted on brackets such as that shown at 34.

It will be apparent that the invention provides perfections in a simple, yet effective perforating attachment. The principal advantage of. the invention is that it is capable of perforating the stock precisely along a straight line without any tendency for the stock to weave or deviate from its normal path. This advantage appears to result from the clearance between the pivot 31a and associated parts whereby the arm 3i? may swing laterally to a slight extent as well as vertically, thereby accommodating itself to any irregularities or imthe stock or inaccuracies in the various elements making up the device. The stripper fingers further contribute to accurate perforation by preventing misalinement of the stock which might. result from its tendency to follow the perforator disc on the exit side of the perforator.

Although I have illustrated and described herein but a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be recognized that changes in the construction described may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of theappended claims...

I claim:

1. A perforating attachment for a sheet-handling mechanism such as a press or the like, comprising a perforator disc, a support mounting said. disc for rotation,.means cooperating with said disc to support stock fed therebetween for perforation, and positive stop means mounting said. first mentionedsupport for limited movement thereby permitting the perforator disc to accommodate itself to imperfections in the stock.

2. A perforating attachment for a sheet-handling mechanism such as a press or the like,

comprising a bracket, an arm mounted on said bracket, a perforator disc journaled on said arm, and. means cooperating with said disc to hold stock thereagainst for perforation, said arm being translatable relative to said bracket to the extent necessary for the disc to accommodate it self to the irregularities in the stock.

- 3. Perforating apparatus comprising perforating'means andastock support mounted adjacent the perforating means for maintaining stock being perforated in operative relationship with respect to the perforating means, the perforating means being mounted so that the active perforating portion thereof has limited movement both in a direction toward and away from the stock support and also transversely of said direction to allow the perforating means to accommodate itself to irregularities in the stock.

4. Perforating apparatus comprising a support,

an arm. connected with said support and movable 4 relatively thereto and a perforating element carried by said arm, the connection between said support and said arm being a lost motion connection. whereby the perforating element may have limited movement to accommodate itself to irregularitiesin the stock.

5. Perforating apparatus comprising a support, an arm connected with said support and movable relatively thereto and a perforating element carried by said arm, the connection between said support and said arm comprising a pin connected withone of said parts and a sleeve connected with the other of said parts, said pin entering said sleeve and having therein substantially greater clearance than necessary to allow for ordinary pivotal movement of the arm relatively to the support.

ANDREW NEUI-IART. 

